Automatic clutch and releasing mechanism for cables.



A. J. DUN TON AUTOMATIC CLUTCH AND RELEASI-NG MECHANISM FOR GABLES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 22,1910.

Patented 0013. 11, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

WITNEISSESJ ATTORNEYS A J. DUNTON.

AUTOMATIC OLUTGE AND RELEASING macmmsm you GABLES. APPLICATION FILED JULYZQ, 1910. gig Patented 0st. 11, 1910.

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"in are arena carr es.

ADDIS J. D'U'NTON, 0F KETCHIKAN, DISTRICT OF ALASKA, ASSIGNOH, (9F ONE-HALF TO CLEMENS J. GLEMENSSON, 0F KETCHIKAN, DISTRICT 0 ALASKA.

AUTOMATIC CLUTCH AND RELEASING MECHANISM FOR,

CABLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 22, 1910. Serial N0. 575,193.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, Annie J. DUNTON, a

citizen of the United States, and a resident of Ketchikan, District of Alaska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Clutch and Releasing Mech anism for Cables, of which the following is a specification. My invention relates to improvements in devices for clutching and releasing power cables, and it consists in the construct-ions, arrangements and combinations herein described and claimed.

The object of my invention is to provide a' device which, when set in motion, will automatically grip a traveling cable, so as to permit the cable to draw the car or other movable body to which the grip member is attached.

A further object of my invention is to rovide a combined automatic gripping an releasing mechanism, so that the cable may be gripped or released as desired.

further object of my invention 1s to provide a gripping member which will positively hold the cable whether itis gomg in one direction, or in the opposite, the gripping mechanism being so constructed that the greater the pull on the cable, the tighter the gripping member will clutch the cable. Iv attain this object by means of an eccentrically mounted gripping member.

A further object or m invention is to provide a powerful mova 1e grip member, which may be readily operated by spring means, so that the cable may be en aged between this grip ing member and tie aforesaid eccentrlcal y mounted member.

Other objects and advantages will appear in' the following specification, and the novel features of the device will beparticularly pointed out in the appended clalms.

In the following specification, I will de scribe my device as being applied to a car,

but it is obvious that it may be a plied to any traveling body which is to be rawn by a traveling cable, such as the bucket of an aerial tram-way, asurface car, an elevator, etc.

My'inventi'on is illustrated in the accompanying drawings form ng part of this application in which similar reference characters indicate like parts in the several views, and in which Figure l is a bottom view of a car, showlink 12 with a pivoted from the shoulder to ing my invention applied thereto. Fig.2 is

a section on the line 2-2, of Fig. 1, looking arrows. Fig. 3 is a' a perspective view of the bolt connecting the actuating lever with the slidable wedge member. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the slidable grip member. Fig. 8 is a perspec tive view of the eccentric grip member, and, Fig. 9 is a view of a modified form of actuating lever.

In carrying out my invention, I provide a main bed plate 1. In this stance, I have shown this be ing attached to the supporting ame 2 of a car 3. The latter is provided with the usual axles 4 bearing wheels 5, which are designed to run on a track 6.

Patented itt. 191$.

so artlcular infplate as be Mounted upon a pivot 7 carried by the bed plate 1, is a lever 8. This lever is provided with a spring (in this instance a spiral spring) 9, one end of which is fastened to the lever, and the other end being secured to the pivot pin 7. The lever is provided with a slot 10 (see Fig. 4.), for the reception of a pivoted locking member 11. The latter is connected by means of a handle 18. handle is kept in a raised position by means of the spring 14. The end-of the locking member 11 is'designed to enter a recess 15 in the bed plate 1; This recess, as will be seen from Fig; 3, forms ashoulder 16, against which the locking member 11 may be engaged. The bottom of the recess slopes the surface of the .bed

plate, so that the lever may be swan past the recess 15 in one direction, but W1 not return unless-the handle 13 is pressed to raise the locking member 11 out of the re cess.

The lever 8 is provided with a longitudinal slot 8", through which extends a bolt 1's. This bolt is of the sha e shown in Fig. 6. From this figure it will is provided with an enlarged portion .17 of cubical shape, an enlarged portion 1'2 of cylindrical shape, and a threaded portion 17 arranged to receive a nut 18.

e seen that the bolt The plate 1 18 provided with two longitudinal slots 1 and l near its sides, and with a diagonal slot 1. ()n the face of the in Fig. 8, and is provided with a corrugated bed plate opposite that on which the lever is pivoted, I arrange a slidable grip member 1 19 of the shape shown in 7. This is provided with a groove 19 for t e reception t the cable 20. The member 19 is-\s lidably secured to the bed plate 1 by means of the bolts 21. These bolts extend into the slidable grip member 19 and are riveted thereto on one side as shown at 21" in Fig. 5. The bolts are provided with squared portions 21", which fit in the slots 1*- and 1 in the bed plate 1, and the bolts are held in place by means of nuts 22. The construction described permits the member 19 to slide longitudinally ot' the bed plate 1, while maintaining positions parallel to its original position at all times.

Secured to the bed plateon the same side thereof as the slidable grip member 19, is an abutment member 23. One edge 24 of this abutment member is inclined to the straight edge 19 of the slidable grip memher and between the abutment member 23 and the grip 19, is a wedge 25, which is slidable transversely of thebed plate 1. Inspection of Fig. 4 will show that the bolt 17 passes through an opening 25 The cubical portion 17 of the bolt fits in the slot 1 in the bed plate 1, while the portion 17 b of the bolt passes through an opening in a block 26. The latter slidesin the block 8 of the lever S. In order to reduce the friction between the sides of the wedge 25 and the abutment member 23 on one side, I may groove these members and insert the ball bearings 27, while the ball bearings 28 may be inserted between the wedge 25 and the slidable grip member 19.

The element which cooperates with the slidable grip member 19 to cause the gripping of the rope, is best'shown in Fig. 8. This member 29 is pivotally mounted on a pin 30. One end bears a slotted stud 31 ar-. ranged to receive aspring 32. The-bearing edge of the member 29 is curved as shown groove 29. The curve is a segment of a circle, having 'a greater radius than the distance from its central portion to the pivot pin. It is therefore apparent that no matter which way the grip member 29 moves, its gripping surface approaches that of its companion grip member 19. The spring 32 tends to maintain the member 29 in the position shown in .Fig. 1.

In order that the gripping member 19 may be retracted by a movement of the wedge 25, I provide a metal plate 33, which is secured to the wedge 25 by rivets, or otherwise. This plate has a slot 33, in which a guide lug 19 on the plate 19 runs.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, the operation thereof will be readily understood.

The invention is primarilydesigned to be used as stated before on tram-ways having power cables which are traveling constantly. Such a cable is shown in Fig. 1. In this figure, position it will assume when the gripping device clutches the cable. The spiral spring 9 tends to force the lever into the position shown in the figure. The wedge 25 is therefore torced between-the abutment member and the slidab'l'e grip member 19, thereby forcing thelatter downwardly and clamping the rope between it and the member 29. It will be seen that a pull on the rope will tend to crowd the eccentric member 29 against the grip member 19, thereby causing it to grip the rope still tighter, and this will occur whether the rope is moving in one direction or the other, since a movement of the member 29 about its pivot will cause it to grip the rope more tightly. In order to release the cable, I may provide trip pins, such as those shown at 34. These pins eX- tend normally in the path of the lever B, and if the car is proceeding in the direction shown by the large arrow in' Fig. l, the lever 8 will engage the pin 34: and will therefore be swung around into the dotted line position shown in Fig. 3. (It will be borne in mind that the Fig. 1 shows the bottom of the car, and Fig. 3 shows the top of the gripping device.) \Vhen the lever 8 reaches the dotted line position shown in Fig. 3, the locking member 11 will engage the shoulder 16 of the recess 15. The movement of the lever from the full line position shown in Fig. 3, to the dotted line position against the tension of the spiral spring 9, causes an outward movement of the wedge from between the abutment member 23 and the slidable member 19 and the latter is drawn from the cable, thereby releasing its clutch on the same. The gripping device will remain therefore inert until the handle 13 is pressed, when the locking member ll will be withdrawn from the groove 15, and the spring 9 will bring the lever back into its original position, thereby moving the slid able grip member and causing it to grip the rope.

It will be seen that the lever 8 is designed to be tripped by the engagement with the pin 34, and to be locked in its shifted position after passing the pin. In order to facilitate the passing of the pin, I may curve the levers, as shown in Fig. 9. This, on account of the curvature of the lever, will require a shorter time for the engagement of the pin, since it is obvious that with the lever curved, it will leave the pin sooner than it it were straight.

I claim:

1. In an automatic cable gripping and releasing device, a bed, plate provided with parallel longitudinal slots, and a transverse slot, a slotted lever pivotally mounted on the lever 8 is shown in the sprmg,

said bed plate, a spring having one end connectet. with said lever, and the other end with said pivot, a locking device carried by said lever and adapted to lock the same to said bed plate against the tension of said means for retracting said locking de\ ice to free the lever, an abutment carried by said bed plate on the opposite side from said lever, a slidable gripping member, means guided in the parallel slots in said bed plate for securing said gripping member to said bed plate. a movable wedge disposed between said abutment. member and said slidable gripping member, a pin carried by said wedge and extending through the slot in said lever, and through the slot in said bed plate, and a pivoted grip member arranged to cooperate with said slidable grip member, said pivoted grip member having a curved gripping surface eccentric oi the pivot.

2. In an automatic cable gripping and re leasing device, a slotted bed plate, a slotted lever pivotally mounted on said bed plate, a spring for maintaining the lever in a given position relative to said bed )late, means for locking said lever to said bed plate, an abutnlent ea'rried'by said bed plate on the opposite side of said lever, a slidable gripping member, means for guiding said gripping member, a movable wedge between said abutment member and said slidable gripping member. means connected with said lever for moving said wedge, and a pivoted gripping member arranged to eoiiperate with saidslidable gripping member, said pivoted gripping member havmga curved gripping surtace eccentric ot the pivot.

.3. 'In an a tomatic cable gripping and re plate, a slldable grip leasin device a bed plug member, and an abutment member carried by said bed plate, a movable wedge between said slidable gripping member. and

nected with wedge and ment member,

said abutment, means securing said grip plng member to said Wedge, aspring actuated pivoted lever on the opposite side of the bed plate, means connected with said lever for moving said wedge, and a pivoted eccentric gripping member arranged to cooperate with-said slidable gripping member.

at. In an automatic cable gripping and releasing device, a bed plate, a spring-actuated lever pivoted on said bed plate, a slidable gripping member carried by said bed plate on the opposite side from said pivoted lever, an abutment member, a movable wedge arranged between said abutment member and said slidable said lever for moving said an opposing gripping member for cooperating with said shdable gripping member.

5. In an automatic cable gripping andreleasing device, a bed plate havlng an abuta slidable gripping member, a wedge between saidabutment member and said slidable gripping member, a springactuated lever for moving said wedge, means coiipe 'ating with said sliding gripping mem ber for gripping a cable, .a series of pins adapted to engage said lever for o erating said wedge, and automatic means r loekinggsaid lever to said bed plate.

G. In an automatic cable gripping and releasing'deviee, a plate, an abutment carried thereby, a slidable gripping member, a second gripping member arranged to cooperate with said slidable gripping member, a wedge between said abutment and said slidable gripping member for forcing the. latter toward the second-named rip ing member, and means for movin sai we e. i

. A DIS J. UNTON.

Witnesses:

L. A. STANLEY, SoLoN C. Ker/101v.

gripping member, means con- 

